Fealty
by ambit
Summary: Though vermin, Jaii Swiftclaw is still no stranger to honor. The stubborn weasel always pays what he owes--even when what he owes is a lifedebt to Dusan Ironfist, a badger bound for Salamandastron.


Disclaimer: Redwall and its world and characters are Brian Jacques' creations. I'm just playing with them for a while.

AN: Apologies for any mistakes; this is my first fanfic and I'm still trying to find my way around. C&C is welcome, I'll revise the fic accordingly as best I can.

Fealty

Prologue

"Wake up."

The weasel groaned as a heavy footpaw struck his already battered side. He might have done better to spare himself the effort; his slit windpipe no longer allowed him the luxury of voicing pain. His attempt came out as a single pathetic hiss that disappated almost immediately into choking nothing.

He'd spent his entire life trying to be silent. Ironically, it seemed his body had remembered his past training all too well, and now that he needed to produce sound he couldn't. Air and blood gurgled torture in his voiceless throat, and he struggled to draw breath as he moved a claw upward in a silent, futile gesture toward the beast who had kicked him. He couldn't see this beast. His movements were unguided; he groped blind in thick darkness. He was used to darkness. He had lived in it, had lived it. But this kind of darkness, the kind that bound him now, he'd never known before. This kind of unseeing numb cold pain. The grey suffering struggle in the shadowlands between Life and Hellgates, it was unfamiliar and he fought only weakly against it and the strange beast who reawakened him to it by kicking him. Yet fight he did, flexing his claws upward toward his unseen enemy as if trying to strangle his own death. Perhaps he was.

_So cold. Hellgates. He had no desire to enter Hellgates. Not so soon. He couldn't go until he had paid back what he owed. He still owed someone something. _

_Candle flicker in the night. Or was it the flash of a drawn blade? The breeze in his fur as her skirts swished past his face, the familiar scent of roses. He could hear the frown in her voice. You've been a bad kit, Jaii. You took that oat scone when I told you not to, so you'll get a whipping. You have to pay back what you owe. _

_Father never liked you, you know. You killed Father, so I'll kill you. Pay back what you owe. I've paid now, why haven't you? The moon was red tonight. I saw it reflected in your blade, Kai. Or was it the sheen of my own blood. Scarlet sliding down silver like the night I stabbed father with the blade you gave me. _

_She didn't come back yesterday night, maybe she paid back what she owed. The scent of blood with the scent of roses. The skirt she wore that day was rose red, why could he still see the blood? But there was still the scent of roses. I'm trapped here, Jaii, someday you'll understand. I want to be free. _

_Red dress, red rose. Oat scone. Jaii, what were you thinking, weasels can't fly, only birds. Then I want to be a bird! Birds can go anywhere like the sparrow that flew out of father's jail through the hall window. Claws ruffling his headfur. Silly kit. She was laughing. Jaii, I'm a sparrow in a cage and if I can I'll fly away too. But I haven't paid back what I owe yet, do you see? _

_He didn't want the warlord's seat. No ambition, I don't know what's the matter with that kit. Why can't you be like Kai? Stupid kit, don't you know that if you don't control other beasts other beasts will control you? But surely there was a way past that. Not a puppet, not a puppeteer. He would cut all the strings like Mother cut the bars of her cage and fly away. I'll give all the strings to you, Kai, I don't want them. I don't understand you, Hellgates you're strange, Jaii. I'm not strange. I want to be free. _

_You want freedom Jaii? There's freedom in death and I'll give it to you. No, I'm not free, you didn't free me you bound me. I still owe someone something. As long as I owe someone something I'll never be free. Someone who is in debt isn't free. You bound me, Kai. I owe you something. _

_I owe you death. _

Somebeast was cursing. Great rough paws slapped his face, seized his bleeding shoulders and shook him till his teeth rattled. Pain jangled through his limbs, short and sharp as discordant musical notes.

"Wake up," the beast was saying again. "Come on, damn you, open your eyes. If you've got enough strength in you to try to strangle me-even if you were reaching in the bloody opposite direction-then you can open your eyes and show it's worth saving your flea-bitten vermin hide."

The beast that had kicked him.

He opened his eyes but he could still see nothing. It hurt. Was he crying? But he never cried.

His eyes stung. Should tears hurt this much?

The beast in the darkness swore. "By the Dark Forest Gates! Close your eyes, you idiot! You vermin butcher each other worse then you do woodlanders!"

He realized then that the wetness he was trying so hard to blink back was blood. A wave of vertigo came, and the darkness behind his eyes rose up and swallowed him.


End file.
